apocalypsehow | Dallas, Texas

Of course Five had to end up losing his last sibling and also end up in a dystopian future. Past. Past future?

Whatever.

"Diego?" he shouted, dropping Annie's hand as he spun around in this... why was he in an alley? This was ridiculous.

Annie	Annie wasn't used to time travel or teleporting or any of this, brave face though she might have put on, so she was just gonna take a second to be bent over her knees and trying not to puke. But just a second. "Diego?" she called, once she'd registered he wasn't with them. "What the fuck -- Diego?"
Five	Five spared her a glance and a little nose wrinkle at the dry heaving before he was rushing down the alley and toward where the noise of gunfire and shouting was filtering in. As always, there was a convenient newspaper to let him know of the fact that they were in Dallas in 1963. Which. Yikes. But the real yikes appeared to be the headline reading 'Soviets Attack US!' "No, this can't be right."
Annie	"What?" Annie was right behind him, staring around at their surroundings in horrified awe. This wasn't -- like, she wasn't great at history, but.... "Five, where are we? Where's Diego?" Trying not to panic. Not entirely succeeding, but trying her best, all the same.
Five	A tank rolled past them down the debris strewn street that they'd managed to find themselves on after popping out of the alley. "You two, get down!" an American soldier shouted as artillery fire went off all around them. "What the hell did we do now?" Five demanded, glancing over at Annie for a moment with a very annoyed expression over his siblings clearly causing another apocalypse without him being there to supervise them.
Vanya	You know what? Fair question. It did really look like a warzone, complete with tanks. When one of those tanks fired a shell from behind Five it looked like it was going to completely wreck a nearby building. That was until Vanya flew--yes, flew--from out of a broken building. She lifted her hands out and easily crushed the round in mid-air. So, you know, you're welcome.
Annie	Okay, there was a lot going on here. There were tanks, there was a guy over there that she was pretty sure had been speaking Russian, and there was so much ambient gunfire that Annie was doing her best to haphazardly shield Five in case a bullet came their way. But she wasn't that distracted. "Holy shit, Vanya." Annie panicked, her hands going up in front of her to shield them or blast Vanya or -- Wait a second, she recognized that guy over there, too.
Klaus	Well she should recognize him, because it was Klaus. Who looked a little dirty and beat up, but handling his own against the soldiers in this own unique way. Which meant sending a hoard of ghosts after a handful of American ghosts. He looked pretty impressed with himself, which meant he was oblivious to the missile heading towards him.
Luther	Luther leapt from a building, in a move that Queen Maeve might have been impressed with. He landed next to Klaus just in time to take the direct hit from the missile, nailing him in the back. It had looked like it hurt, and he was on fire for a couple seconds, but he'd walk it off.
Five	"How long have they been here for?" Five demanded, pushing out of Annie's protective and probably very necessary shielding him from gunfire to see proof of that 'stronger together' hypothesis. "Who am I kidding, they could have done this in a week."
Ben	At least they were all together! Including a very visible (but blue and ghostly) Ben, standing on top of a roof and using his tentacles to throw nearby soldiers. It wasn't the prettiest power, but it looked pretty cool.
Annie	And even in the midst of all of this chaos and her joy at seeing the lost Hargreeves (thankfully, Vanya seemed to be on their side this time), Annie still stopped dead in her tracks when she realized what -- who -- she was seeing. "Ben," she breathed, smiling a little in spite everything here. Oh, Ben, it was good to finally see you. Even if these circumstances -- like, fucking yikes. "Oh my God, Five, do you think they did all of this?" No way. No way five people and a ghost -- even these particular five people and this particular ghost -- could do all this.
Allison	Were you sure, Annie? Were you really sure? Because there was Allison, acting calm and collected as she was being approached by three soldiers aiming guns at her. With a small smile Allison held her hands out to stop them. "I heard a rumor I blew your minds." Then their heads exploded. Literally.
Five	"...okay, that's new." Thanks, Five. Thanks.
Diego	Also new? Diego's sweet beard and hair combo. He was standing on a cop car, seeming just as nonplussed as Allison to have five guys aiming guns at him. When they started shooting, Diego leapt into the air, causing the bullets to twist and turn around him as he flipped. By the time he landed all five soldiers were dead on the ground thanks to their own bullets. "Where the hell have you guys been?" he asked, not surprised to see Five and Annie.
Annie	Holy shit. Okay, first of all? Most importantly? Diego looked great with long hair. She'd known it. This was clearly the correct timeline. They'd figure out the tanks and stuff, okay? Secondly, um, that was new. That bullet thing. And the flipping, and that was distractingly -- fucking focus, Annie. "Diego! You're all right!" Here she'd just been about to probably throw up again after Allison's also-apparently-new trick and instead here was Diego, all standing on cop cars and suddenly weirdly hotter than when she'd last seen him and with new powers, maybe? "What the fuck is going on?" Really, the question on everyone's minds.
Five	"How long have you been here for?" Wait. Were there more Russian soldiers coming? Because that was all Five needed to rush forward to join his siblings in what was an absolutely certain death.
Hazel	No, absolutely not. Hazel was here to save you from yourself, Five. And, yes, he looked like Santa now. Don't question it. "If you want to live you need to come with me."
Annie	Okay, sudden Santa was not what Annie had been expecting, but at this point it was kind of par for the course. She barely even registered that he was talking to Five -- both of them? -- because there was a mysteriously long-haired Diego over there that she was going to have to go over and join, thanks. Obviously they were here to stop whatever stupid Russo-American war had broken out for no reason!
Five	"Hazel," Five said, maybe for Annie's clarification, maybe because he couldn't quite believe it was him. "What the hell is going on here?"
Hazel	"There's no time to explain." Hazel pointed up at the sky where there were some fast moving objects approaching. "Those are nukes, old-timer. You and your lady friend need to come with me."
Annie	Okay, Annie was now giving Santa -- Hazel -- her full attention, though she did roll her eyes up to look at those incoming nukes. Fuck. Fuck. "What about them?" she demanded, jerking her head towards Diego and their other siblings.
Hazel	"You can't save them if you're dead." Hazel held up a briefcase that was most likely familiar to Five, and not so familiar to Annie.
Five	Five took a deep breath and nodded in understanding of what was hopefully being offered here. He reached out to grab both Hazel and Annie's hands to let Hazel get them out of here for an explanation. Diego and the others could be saved, Annie on the other hand, would wiped out if left behind. And that was bad. Progress. "Let's go."
Hazel	Hazel was glad to have their cooperation. He would have hated to have to drag them out of there forcibly. The three of them now found themselves on the same street as before, only it looked quite different. Less soldiers, more people going about their day casually. They were dressed in an old fashioned way, of course it was possibly you were too nauseous to notice it.
Annie	Funny you should mention it, since Annie was now finding a spot behind a parked car to kneel and puke once more. "What --" Okay, there were a lot of questions she could ask here. This car she was vomiting behind was old-fashioned both in color and in make. And that lady over there was dressed like freaking Jackie Kennedy or something. And most importantly to Annie, no Diego. No Diego, no Allison, no Klaus, no Luther, no ghostly Ben, no flying Vanya. "What happened? What's going on?"
Hazel	"That was the end of the world," Hazel said, giving Annie a sympathetic look. It had taken awhile for him to get over the time travel pukes as well. "November 25th, 1963."
Five	"You know, Hazel. I'm no history buff," Five, the actual time traveling assassin began, also sparing a glance at Annie. "But I don't remember there being a nuclear holocaust then."
Hazel	"No shit." He just saved you all from dying, the sarcasm was not appreciated.
Annie	"What about the others?" Did Annie have a little bit of a one-track mind at the moment, now that she was feeling steady enough to get to her feet and look around a little? Yes, but at least it was a really productive, relevant track. "Where...when are we now?" She was at least looking over to make direct eye contact with Hazel, since normally by now she would have effusively introduced herself had there not been emergency time travel and hurling.
Hazel	"The others will be dead, like everyone else," Hazel replied. "And right now you are in Dallas. Same street. Ten days earlier. Plenty of time to restore the timeline and save them."
Five	"Okay, where do we start?" 10 days wasn't ideal, but he could work with it.
Hazel	"We?" Hazel repeated. "You're on your own, pal. I'm just here to keep a promise to Agnes."
Five	"Is she...?" Whoa, was that actual sympathy in Five's tone?
Hazel	"Dead? Yeah," Hazel said with a nod. "Cancer. Took her quick. But we had 20 good years together. I guess forever wasn't in the cards." Nearby, a bus stopped and let off three grumpy blonde men.
Five	"I'm sorry, Hazel." He'd felt the same about parting with Dolores. Which was totally the same, right? "What about the Commission?"
Hazel	"I quit those assholes, remember? I don't owe them the fuzz of my peaches." Which was a charming turn of phrase, really. The pasty guys started to approach where Hazel, Five and Annie were. Their hands were in their coats in the classic "yeah, we're armed" sort of way.
Five	"Who the hell are those guys?" He thought he knew all his contemporaries! Also, maybe be a little more alarmed, Five?
Hazel	"Shit." He thought he had more time than this. Hazel shoved Five, putting the briefcase into his hands and discreetly slipping something into his pocket. "Run!"
The Swedes	That's when the three guys started opening fire. They caught Hazel immediately, hitting him enough times to ensure that the old man was dead on the street. People started screaming around them but they didn't really notice and/or care. Instead they turned their sights on Five.
Annie	Annie had noticed the guys a moment earlier, yes, but there was just a lot going on here, between trying to read that movie theater's marquee and taking in the clothes of the passers-by and also trying to listen to Hazel (and feel a little heartbroken for his loss, immediately, because this was Annie.) So her reaction time wasn't what it normally would have been. She was much too late to save Hazel -- and she'd say a little prayer for him later -- but she was quick enough to shield Five, at least. That was something, right? Didn't mean it didn't hurt, even if the bullets bounced harmlessly right off of her. "Fuck, Five, run!" she yelled, getting her hands up to blast these guys away. Because that was a great idea that wouldn't lead to potentially blinding civilians or anything.
Five	"Now is not the time for that," Five hissed, grabbing hold of her to teleport them up onto a nearby rooftop first to get them out of the line of fire. Which was when he noticed the briefcase had been shot. He cursed under his breath and tossed it aside. "How many times did I tell them, 'bulletproof briefcases'?"
Annie	"Most people," said Annie, from where she was just gonna lie here for a second and hope she didn't throw up again, "say 'thank you' to their human shields, just eff why eye." It was honestly remarkable that it had taken this long for bitchy comments to start.
Five	"I'll thank you if you promise to not do something to irrevocably change the timeline by using your powers in public," Five said, crouching down to peer over the edge of the building to watch their would-be assassins be unable to locate where they'd gone. "Probably what we're here to stop my siblings from doing."
Annie	"How come you're allowed?" Annie grumbled, but there was no heat behind it. (Also, Annie, he was allowed because it got you away from those menacing blond dudes, duh.) She elbow-crawled her way over to the edge, peeking over as well. "Help a time travel newbie out, here -- this is like...a do-over? So that what we saw with the nukes doesn't happen?" So that meant they were around here somewhere. Hopefully even Diego.
Five	"It's a do-over with no going back for a second chance if we mess this one up," Five said, jerking his head over at the discarded briefcase. "I can't pin-point moments like that thing could." Luckily for them, the three men were taking off to regroup as panic over Hazel's corpse continued.
Annie	"What is that? Time-travel...case?" Annie asked, looking over at the briefcase as an old-timey siren sounded from not nearly far away enough for her liking. "We need to keep moving." By walking, Five. Please let her walk. Just a little. As a treat.
Five	Nah, he was reaching for her arm to teleport them back down into the alley way they'd originally arrived in. Because it was faster. And less noticeable than a blonde woman jumping off a roof with no damage to her. "It belonged to The Commission," he said even if she might be too busy gagging to hear him. "Standard kit for my former profession."
Annie	"How do you do this all the time?" she asked her shoes, because of course she was doubled over again. At least it seemed she was out of stomach contents by now, so that was something! "Oh my God, Five." But she could think and bitch at the same time, so she added, "They're not all like you? That guy -- Hazel -- he needed the...kit?" God, your universe just kept getting weirder, guys.
Five	"He did," Five said. And he was being positively effusive in how much he was sharing here! Right about now he regretted that whole salt and burn approach to the Commission that he'd taken. "We could have used it to pick them all up at the moment they arrived here..." He trailed off at a flicker of movement up at a window that looked down directly at the alley way. A good deal of surveillance equipment was visible as a man quickly moved out of sight upon Five looking up.
Annie	Annie followed his gaze, catching just the movement of the curtain. "Well that would have been handy," she said slowly, tracing the path down from the window to a door marked 'Shipping and Receiving,' with 'Morty's' emblazoned above in flourishing script. "Think that guy gets all the channels?" Those were a lot of antennae up there. Like, definitely more than anyone in this time period should have just casually had, right?
Five	Five huffed out an amused little noise before grabbing her hand again to get them into the building before whoever was up there could run. It was expedient. Sorry not sorry, Annie.
Annie	Well, thank you for taking her somewhere with stairs, at least, because now there was a railing Annie could cling to. "This is killing me. This is gonna be how I die." Drama queen. But also, she had to admit, this was a better option than having her blast the door off or whatever. "Does that door say DDS?" Like...a dentist? Mr. Electronics was a dentist?
Five	"Let's find out, shall we?" Five said with a semi-feral grin as he strode forward to knock on the door. Because that seemed like the best idea.
Annie	You know what, Annie didn't have a better one. But she was going to lift her hands up defensively as she crept up the stairs behind him, because if this went badly, she wasn't holding back. And at least there weren't many witnesses to irrevocably change the timeline or whatever. Just some dentist.
Elliot	After a couple moments someone opened the door of the dentist office. It was barely open, but you could tell there was a squirrely looking white guy behind it. "What do you want?"
Five	Five put on his very best 'I'm a normal human teenager' smile. It was terrifying if you knew him, honestly. "Hi, I'm selling encyclopedias for my youth group." Ignore the woman behind him. "I was curious if--"
Elliot	Nope. Nooooooope strange little boy. Elliot was having none of this and was slamming the door in your face.
Annie	Look at the growth happening here. Look at it. Because Annie was reaching out to put a hand on Five's shoulder and bracing herself. His way was better, okay. She could admit that. This door didn't need to be shot off its hinges. (And she was probably done throwing up, anyway.)
Five	Awww, she was learning. Five let out an annoyed sigh at the man making them do this the hard way, and teleported the pair of them into the apartment. Because you might have information that he needed, you little shit.
Elliot	Cue the man immediately screaming because that is what a normal person would do when a child and a lady teleported into your home. He went to a drawer and scrambled around until he could find a knife he could look vaguely threatening with. "How did you do that?!"
Annie	"Don't worry about it," Annie advised, doing an admirable job of staying upright and not visibly nauseated. "We're not here to hurt you." That seemed important to get out there right away.
Five	"Debatable." Five, no.
Elliot	"You're from the Pentagon, huh?" Elliot asked, brandishing his knife like he had any idea of how to use it other than to chop vegetables.
Annie	"We're not," Annie agreed, holding her hands up in what would have seemed like a placating gesture if you didn't know she could give you third-degree burns with those hands. Not that this guy seemed like anything but a frightened civilian, but still. Couldn't be too careful.
Elliot	"CIA? FBI? KGB?" Some other threatening letters, maybe.
Five	Five huffed like all of those were adorable and amusing to him before he caught sight of a coffee pot beyond the man. Which he needlessly teleported over to just to keep terrifying him. "Is this fresh?" Because he could use some, thanks.
Elliot	"What?" What was even happening here?
Five	Oh yeah, he was pouring himself a cup. And, because he was possibly growing as a person, he held up another cup for Annie in case she wanted some too. Just what you wanted after puking so much, right?
Annie	"It's all right," Annie told the understandably-frightened man reassuringly, gratefully taking that cup just for something to do with her hands besides threatening the dude, if nothing else. "We, um --" Her eyes fell on one of the news clippings on the wall -- Scared Man clearly had some shit going on -- and inspiration struck. "We come in peace." She glanced over at Five, jerking her head very slightly at the clipping. STRANGE LIGHTS MAY BE SPACE VISITORS.
Elliot	It took Elliot a couple seconds to process that, but honestly it was a shorter amount of time most people would need considering what had just happened. Soon he was tossing his knife aside and doing an excited little jump in the air. "Hot damn! I always knew we weren't the only ones!" he shouted. "Eleanor thought my head wasn't screwed on tight, but...but it's all true, yeah? UFOs, crop circles…?"
Five	Not a bad play, Annie! Five hid his amused little laugh behind a sip of coffee as he ambled over to look at the clippings. "Well, the truth is out there."
Elliot	"No, no, no, the truth, it's right here in front of us." If Elliot made it to the 90's he would indeed love The X-Files. "Tell me...why is it always an anal probe?"
Annie	Because the early twentieth century was really repressed? "We could tell you, but we'd have to melt your brain," Annie replied, casually illuminating her eyes with an answering hum from the lights. She might have been the good cop (...good alien?) here -- naturally, please -- but she also might as well sell it.
Five	Yuuuup. "All those contraptions on the roof? You built those?" Five asked, taking another sip of the coffee. "Huh. Colombian?"
Elliot	"It's my own blend," he replied, taking a couple steps back to avoid getting melted by the aliens. "The coffee. But the stuff on the roof--yeah, yeah, sure did. Yeah, I've been tracking anomalies in the atmosphere. Just waiting."
Annie	"Waiting for what?" Annie asked, already kind of seizing upon 'anomalies.' Sure, the guy was probably a kook, but -- sometimes kooks were useful. Sometimes kooks noticed things other people didn't.
Elliot	Elliot looked so excited that someone had finally asked. He didn't even care if it was aliens that already threatened him bodily harm. "For you. For all of you," Elliot said. "It all started in 1960, I was in the middle of a sale when something very strange happened. Just lightning and energy crackling through the air. I look in the alley and someone appears screaming." Which was odd for Dallas in 1963. Shops were still closed on Sundays, after all. "So for the past three years I've witnessed five energy surges in that alley out back. Same thing, every time. A bright blue light, then something appears."
Five	Yeah, just normal teleportation stuff. "Did you get a good look at any of them?" Five asked.
Elliot	"Yeah, the first one," Elliot said with a nod. "And then the big, sensitive one."
Annie	"Big sensitive one?" Annie echoed. There was an obvious answer here, but she wouldn't really describe Luther as 'sensitive.' (She hadn't spent enough time with him, clearly.)
Elliot	"Yeah, cried a lot. Kept coming back to the alley, sat around for hours calling a woman's name." It took Elliot a moment to remember what the name actually was since he hadn't seen the big guy in awhile. "Allison."
Five	"Luther." Yeah, that was an easy one.
Elliot	"Yeah, he wasn't the only one," Elliot said. "The others came too, on and off over the years, looking for each other. Eventually...eventually, they stopped."
Annie	"Well. That answers that question," Annie noted, feeling an immediate pang for how scared each of the lost Hargreeves must have been. Diego, at least, might have been somewhat prepared. She glanced over at Five. "Same place, staggered times. But they're alive." She had some sympathy for him, too. He'd almost kinda nailed it.
Five	Five nodded in agreement, getting that one determined look that was borderline his murderous look. "Now, you listen to me," he said, pointing at the man.
Elliot	"Elliot," he responded quickly. "Elliot, my name is Elliot." Be his friends, aliens.
Annie	"Elliot," Annie agreed, smiling easily at him. "It's nice to meet you, Elliot. We have to find the others, okay? And for that, we're gonna need your help." This alien was willing to be his friend. Or at least, willing to be kind to a stranger and try to get as much information out of him as they could. Elliot here was their only lead.
Elliot	"You need my..." Aliens needed his help. This was the best day ever. He wandered over to one of the boards of crazy covered in pieces of paper. "I, uh, I always thought that this, uh, mugshot looked like arrival number four." He lifted up a newspaper article with a very familiar face on it.
Five	"Diego," Five said, snatching the article out of his hands.
Elliot	"So, then, that's helpful?" Give him praise, aliens!
Annie	And there was Annie right over Five's shoulder, reaching a hand out to touch Diego's little mugshot face. "'Disturbed man with multiple knives,'" she read softly -- fondly, even -- as she scanned the accompanying article. (And big yikes there, just from the skim. Oh, Diego.) "You've been so helpful, Elliot. Thank you so much. We won't forget this." There you go, have a vague promise of alien favors or something.
Five	Five rolled his eyes at both of them for that. "Something like that," he said, grabbing for Annie's hand again to teleport them to find the little idiot.